getting started
“The InterNACHI member shall not engage in any practices that could be damaging to the public or bring discredit to the home inspection industry”
Since there is a lot of competition in my county among inspectors, an older inspector would collect all of the other inspector’s business cards from the desks at the realtors’ offices. I am pretty certain he did not redistribute them. A realtor let me in on this secret, when all of my cards were gone.
The following are examples of when the code of ethics are not followed. When a home inspector finds issues on a home that need repair and the home inspector recommends that a specific company rectifies the issue. A conflict of interest will arise if that home inspector is also a shareholder in the recommended renovation, HVAC, or roofing company; plus a home inspector should not recommend specific companies to perform any work on a home to remain unbiased.
Subject: hypothetical conflict of interest or violation of the Code of Ethics
I helped a relative by sitting down and reading a home inspection report on a house my brother-in-law was hoping to buy. The house looked to fit my brother-in-law’s needs. My Brother-in-law told me he was told by the realtor the home inspector and realtor had cut a deal offering the seller a good deal on some handyman repairs that would be called out in the report. The realtor had told him not to mention their deal to anyone else and he would convince the seller to agree to the repairs to sell the property.
ACCURATE INSPECTIONS LLC.
Indiana license HI01500033
Situation : The realtor has asked me to write a inaccurate report so the potential buyer would not walk away from the property.
Remediation : I politely explained to the realtor that what they asked of me was very unprofessional and morally and ethically wrong. I also explained that I actually worked for the buyer and am obligated to provide them with the most accurate inspection report possible.
I asked the realtor that if I was conducting an inspection for them wouldn’t they want an accurate report and if they purchased a property after my inspection and found something that required a substantial amount of money to fix (that I should have found) wouldn’t they seek legal recourse against me. I continued by saying that as a member of Internachi were bound to a higher standard of professionalism and to compromise that would endanger my standing within the organization and that was something that I wasn’t interested in doing.
I have been a termite inspector for over 20 years some of same laws and rules apply cannot solicit work our your own behalf…its stealing from the company as long as you go by the rules you will not have any problems
One sunny summer day I was inspecting a beautiful two story house in the countryside. I was nearly finished the inspection when the selling realtor came to me and wanted to talk. He asked me to not tell the client about the leaking roof and the mold in the basement, so that he could get the sale. He offed me $200 to leave it out of the report. That was one of my most profitable inspections, the client bought the house for a lot less than the asking price, and I had the satisfaction of knowing I did the right thing serving my client, and not taking the money.
I was approached by a seller of a property that I was inspecting and was asked if I would send a copy of the report to himself for a fee. I respectfully told the seller that I have a responsibility to the buyer and would not be able to send to him the report unless the buyer agreed. I further more respectfully decline the additional fee!
Kevin Mathis
The InterNACHI member shall not engage in any practices that could be damaging to the public or bring discredit to the home inspection industry.
A hypothetical situation relating to local law and Internachi code of ethics in regards to a competition act/law, where 2 or more home inspectors participate in a price maintenance or price fixing scheme. The home inspectors work together at arbitrarily inflating home inspection prices, creating an unfair market environment. A home inspector might present a client with a price quotation, and then upon completion of the inspection charge an amount that is considerably higher. This sort of practice would be damaging to the public, discrediting to the home inspection industry, and would be a violation of Internachi code of ethics as well as local laws and regulations.
A violation of the code of conduct, would be when an inspector is trying to get accounts, he tells agents that he can do the jobs in an unreasonable time frame and he knows he can’t. He may tell an agent that instead of additional money , He would falsify an inspection for future jobs, and he would pay the agent if the agent would give him jobs instead of someone else. another violation is saying false information about a competitor.
It would be a violation of the code of ethics if I offered to pay a real estate agent a commission on all home inspections that she or he were to send my way. It would also be against the code of ethics if I were to refuse to do a home inspection for someone based on their skin color. It would also be a violation if I lied about my qualifications. Also I should never give out the clients information without following the guidelines set forth in the InterNACHI code of ethics. I will abide by the code of ethics.
I am a home inspector and have a renovation company as well. I inspected a home and the roofing shingles were somewhat worn. When presenting the inspection to the potential buyer I also gave him a quote on repairing the roof even though the shingles still had multiple years of life left. This hypothetical situation would clearly be a violation of the inspector code of ethics.
I was recently called to do a home inspection on a property in the area. I told the real estate agent that I was available to do the inspection on the date requested. The agent sent me the information on the property later that day. I recognized the address of the home. Before becoming a home inspector, I was a builder who built many homes in the area. This happened to be one that I built! I called back and explained to the agent that I considered this as a conflict of interest and could not perform the inspection. The agent informed me that he could not find anyone else to do this inspection, and was willing to “throw in a little extra” if I would do it. I explained to him that I had to abide by the code of ethics for Nachi home inspectors and was unable to help him
Essay: InterNachi Code of Ethics
One situation that could arise in home the home inspection business that would fall in violation of the InterNachi code of ethics would be compensating real estate brokers, or contractors for inspection leads. A realtor may approach and mention if they receive a “kickback” they will refer to you with all of their inspection needs for their clients. Compensating for leads is against the code of ethics as there is a conflict of interest between the inspector and client.Here is an hypothetical situation - mislead the client. This can happen when inspector tries to reduce the significance of issue found in an inspection to allow a real estate deal to pass through. Inspector should abide by code of ethics and thus disclose the problems identified in inspection as is with out any external influence.
An example of a conflict of interest would be that I have been hired to perform a home inspection by client who is representing by a well known real estate agent known for closing sales. At the end of the inspection, and after delivering the report that noted several major deficiencies, I receive a call from the client’s realtor. The realtor asks if there is anyway I can change the narrative on some of the items in order “move the sale along”. The realtor then offers a monetary incentive for doing so.
Upon the signing of the contract for the home inspection, I proceeded to complete the inspection, taking a little extra time on a few items on the exterior of the house. As I was finishing the report, the real estate agent asked me to not be too harsh on the home owner because he really needed this deal to meet his quota for the month. School was starting soon and he needed to buy school clothes also. After completing the report I mentioned to the home owner that I was in the handyman business and that with 10 years of experience, I could fix the items deficient on the report. Both instances, not being to hard on the homeowner and doing the repairs, is a violation of the code of ethics.
A hypothetical conflict of interest could happen if the home inspector also owned a business that dealt in home repair and offered to "fix the issue(s) that (s)he found during the inspection. This would go against the Code of Ethics. It is a requirement that at least 12 months shall pass between said inspection and the needed service(s).
A violation of the Code of Ethics would be providing realtors with pay or other forms of compensation for referrals, or for being referred in a more positive way than other competing inspectors. Not mentioning a defect or minimizing its severity to ensure that the sale takes place is also a violation of the CoE.
As a home inspector, you are hired by the client, in this scenario, the buyer. You complete the inspection and provide your report. After the report was received by the buyer, the buyer had heard about carbon monoxide alarms going off. The seller, who was given a copy of the report by the buyer, has asked to complete a carbon monoxide test. Performing two separate inspections for two different clients on the same property could be considered a conflict of interest. If the buyer agrees to the same inspector doing this new test, and the seller agrees, would this then be okay?